


Two Strangers, Never Touching

by captain_staryeyed



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Eventual Happy Ending, Eventual Romance, F/M, Slow Burn, Soulmate au sort of, Traveling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-16
Updated: 2019-04-12
Packaged: 2019-10-29 11:31:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 5,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17807201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captain_staryeyed/pseuds/captain_staryeyed
Summary: Rey has been traveling for quite some time, never staying in one place for too long. The world is too big and her life is too short to do so, after all.One night, she has a chance encounter with a silent stranger. At first, she makes nothing of it, but then, she keeps running into him. No matter where she goes, he's there. Could it just be a coincidence or a trick of the eyes?Or perhaps fate is real, and it is guiding her to him.Will update on Fridays.





	1. Maine

Stars peaked through the clouds, attempting to shine brightly for any passerby lovers waltzing the streets of the quaint Maine town Rey found herself in that fateful night.

Life as a traveling writer was surprisingly more quiet than she had originally believed. Before her life on the road, Rey had assumed she would be meeting hundreds of interesting new people and making friends all over the world. She thought she would spend her days trapezing through busy streets and her nights caught up in the city lights. She did not expect to be spending her time in solitude, only making polite conversation with commuters or cashiers.

Salty waves lapped against the boats anchored to the harbor, gently rocking them back and forth as a mother would her child. Rey slumped on a wooden bench overlooking the bay. She glumly watched a couple stumble by, their giggles influenced by warm alcohol. 

She heard him before she saw him. Her ears had become fine-tuned after months of keeping alert and on guard at all times.

He didn’t say anything creepy. He didn’t say anything at all; only barely seemed to acknowledge her presence. He plopped down in the middle of the bench next to her's, his gaze intense and focused on the water.

From the corner of her vision, she watched him. His eyes were glossed over as if he were not quite all there. Rey imaged he was gazing into some hidden, fantastical world only he could see. 

The shadows masked the rest his face. All she could make of it was his unusually big nose. In fact, pretty much every physical attribute of his was large, from his broad shoulders to his oversized feet. Rey would be lying if she said she wasn’t slightly intimidated by the man beside her.

However, there was something about him. Something that she couldn’t quite place, like he had some sort of gravitational pull, trying to draw her nearer.

Whatever strange connection she felt towards the brooding stranger, she knew better than to want to be a part of it.

As she turned to leave, he glanced up at her and nodded goodbye. 

~~~ 

The white noise of whirling machines and idle chatter filled Rey’s ears as she entered the crowded coffee shop. A long line of assorted people stood in line to order their coffee. While she waited, she restrained herself from pulling out her old, beat up smartphone and instead forced herself to watch the people.

The morning sun shone through the glass storefront flooding the entire shop with light. Each mismatched table had a potted plant resting on top of it. In the middle of the room, a man sat at a tall table, hunched over his laptop, furiously typing out an angry email or a scene for the novel he’s working on before he forgets it. Two beautiful women giggled over their cappuccinos, old friends or lovers, she couldn’t tell. Either way, she envied their joy. A traitorous part of her wished she were back home, laughing with her own friends.

She quieted that part of herself. She had always dreamed of escaping her small home town to travel the world, she couldn’t go back now. 

She placed her order, then stepped off to the side, waiting as it was prepared for her. Her eyes caught sight of the man who had stood behind her in line. A feeling of familiarity poked at the back of her mind. 

_The man from last night…_ She’d thought she would never see him again.

Rey noted the depth of the man’s voice as he placed his order. It sounded like a song she had heard long ago, forgetting the words but not the tune. Once again, she felt that peculiar tug at her soul.

She shook away her thoughts as the barista called out her order. Still slightly distracted, she bumped into the mysterious man as she went to pick up her coffee. 

She gasped at the brief skin on skin contact with this stranger. His face, beautiful yet shocked, mirrored her own. In that single second of contact, she watched entire lifetimes of events play out in front of her, each one involving the stranger. Each one a happy ending.

She blamed the vision on an overactive imagination.

_Afterall, it couldn’t mean anything, could it?_

The look on the man’s face contradicted her dismissal. Rey glanced down and noticed some of her coffee had sloshed onto his shirt.

Embarrassment rose to her cheeks as she mumbled an apology.

Their eyes met again, and in the daylight, she was able to see how dark his eyes were. They matched the coffee he held in his hands and were as wide as the saucer on which the cup rattled.

Seeing him felt like an awakening.

She rushed out of the shop, almost forgetting her drink.


	2. New York

She didn’t see him again until a few weeks later. She had thought she’d left him in that small town in Maine, but there he was, sitting under a tree in Central Park.

She had avoided traveling to New York long enough. She had thought it was too cliche, but the desire to be surrounded by people had overcome her.

Curiosity and the promise of Instagramable pictures had led her to the vast oasis in the middle of the bustling city. It took some time to find her way around, but with the help of some kind locals, she eventually made her way to the Bethesda Fountain.

Rey slowly circled around it, admiring both the fountain and the people surrounding it. She hovered over the shoulder of an old man sitting at an easel and watched his hands as they shakily applied paint to a canvas bearing a remarkable resemblance to the sight in front of them. 

The old man glanced over his shoulder at Rey, his eyes sparkled with humor.

“Excuse me, miss, you’re blocking my light.”

Heat rose to her cheeks as she mumbled a hurried apology.

The old man chuckled. “It’s fine, it’s fine. You can watch or take pictures, I don’t mind. I’ve been coming to the park to paint every day since I retired, so I’m used to the curious youths.”

“Really?” Making sure that she did not cast a shadow over it, Rey lined herself up with the canvas and faced the old man. “Do you always paint the same thing? I can imagine that would get tiresome after a while.”

“No, no, there is always something new for me to paint wherever I go.”

As the two continued to chat about everything and nothing at all, Rey’s eyes wandered from the old man to the people milling about the clearing. A light breeze carried the sound of music created by performers stationed under the bridge. The deep, velvety tones of the male singer struck a familiar chord in her. His voice sent a shock through her veins. She was sure she had heard that voice before, but like a forgotten word on the tip of one’s tongue, she could not place it.

The old man began to put away his paintbrush and palette.

“It’s getting late. I must get going before the Misses gets worried.” 

Rey blinked, suddenly noticing that the lamplights had flickered to life. She scurried to help the man pack up his gear, and they exchanged warm farewells.

“If you find yourself back in Central Park,” the man said, turning back to her. “Look for me, I always welcome friendly conversation. The name’s Luke, by the way.”

“Rey.”

“Well, Rey, I hope you find what you’re looking for.”

“Thank you.”

And with that, Rey was back on her own. 

She wandered to the edge of the lake, dodging a giggling hoard of children playing tag. She stared out at the water for some time, losing herself in her thoughts. She wondered if she would ever settle down like Luke and his wife, Mara (whom he had talked a great deal of). A large part of her doubted it. She had been moving for so long, she did not know if she would ever be stationary again. However, if she were being completely honest with herself, she knew she would settle down eventually. The strange man from Maine had shown her something of her future--that is if the vision was to be believed. 

But something about it felt different from ordinary daydreams. And the look in his eye after they touched confirmed that he had seen it too. Still, the whole thing could have been just a coincidence. It didn’t actually mean...

Shaking herself from these thoughts, she turned away from the lake. Her breath caught in her throat.

_No, it can’t be._

It had to be a trick of the eyes. She had just been thinking of him, so her brain probably projected his likeness on to someone else. She blinked a few times in an effort to shake off the confusion her eyes seemed to be putting her through.

Still, he remained.

He and his guitar case sat at a well-worn park bench. He lounged in the nearby lamplight and watched the people passing by. A journal lay open in his lap, it’s pages bearing evidence of the wind’s existence. 

She wondered how long she had been staring when he looked up at her. Even from their distance, she could see the recognition wash over his face. He lifted his hand to wave.

She waved back.

Neither made any advancement towards the other. They just took in each other, then, wordlessly agreeing to the coincidence, they turned away. He to his journal. She to the great unknown which lay before her.

That night, as she was writing her next post to her fairly popular travel blog _The Adventure Scavenger_ , she thought back to her mysterious stranger. Her seeing him again had to be merely a coincidence, right?


	3. Oregon

When financial needs hit, Rey found herself working in auto-shop outside of Portland, Oregon. She spent her days working in the shop, and her nights in the room she had spent most of her teenage years in at Maz’s house.

Maz came into Rey’s life like divine intervention. Some days, Rey supposes Maz _was_ a divine intervention, descent from heaven just to save her.

Seven years ago, the small older woman had been driving down to Texas to visit family, when her car broke down outside of Roswell, New Mexico. Rey, twelve at the time, had been illegally working in the auto shop Unkar Plutt, her foster father (if you could even call him _that_ ), owned. While Maz had been impressed with Rey’s workmanship, she had been furious to see such a young, malnourished child working in such a dangerous environment. 

Maz swiftly took it upon herself to take Rey out of this situation, and with a simple phone call to her friend and lawyer, Leia Organa-Solo, and a tedious court case later, she gained custody of the young girl.

Rey set a cup of earl grey in front of Maz. She watched as the tea’s steam curled in the air.

“What troubles you, dear?” Maz had a way of always being able to read people’s emotions.

She didn’t even bother hiding it from her.

“I’m beginning to wonder if I should come back to live here, so I can help take care of you. You’re getting older, and working at the bar seems to be wearing on you. Mr. Tico says that he’s looking for a full-time manager at the auto shop, and he offered to give me the position.”

During her high school years, Rey had worked part-time at Mr. and Mrs. Tico’s garage. At first, the husband and wife were reluctant to hire a teenage mechanic, but after being coerced by Rose, their daughter, and Rey’s friend, they agreed to give her an interview. The two were astonished to find that the teenager knew as much about fixing cars as their best mechanics. She was hired on the spot.

“It’s a good offer,” Rey continued. “Especially for my age and the fact that I don’t have a degree.”

“But?”

“But nothing. If I move back I can get an apartment nearby and help you with housework and do some college classes online and have a steady source of income and--”

“But is that what you want?”

Rey looked up into Maz’s wise eyes. Shoulders slumping, she shook her head.

“No.”

Maz took Rey’s hands in her own. “Rey, you are young. You don’t need to worry about me. If I ever need help, I can call Finn.”

“But he lives in Salem.”

“Child, you worry too much. So what if he lives a few hours away? I will be fine. Do not let me hold you back.”

Rey opened her mouth to argue but thought better. She nodded, and the two went back to sipping their tea in silence.

~~~

Towards the end of her stay in the cool rainy town, she saw him again. 

His face popped up in her YouTube recommendations as she scrolled through videos during her lunch break. She squinted to see his hands hovering over a keyboard. The video title advertised a Panic! at the Disco piano cover.

She clicked play.

As she listens to his low voice singing lyrics she knew by heart, she catches a glimpse of his channel name.

_KyloxRen_. 

_What kind of dumb name is that?_

She continued to watch video after video until she had to clock back in.


	4. British Columbia

“...and right there. One, two, three, smile!” Finn snapped a few dozen pictures before Rey shooed him off.

The salty smell of the ocean behind them sent an ache through her body. She yearned to rush across the train tracks that separated them from the beach and fling her body into the crashing waves. However, they were only in Canada for the weekend, and they had so many other filming locations they wanted to visit. Sadly, she couldn’t waste time frolicking in the sea.

Rey took her phone back from him and flipped through the pictures he had taken. The two stood in front of the building that had been used in the outer shots of Shawn and Gus’ office in _Psych_ , one of the many crime shows Maz had introduced them to after she adopted them.

Her stomach rumbled as she slipped her phone into her back pocket. 

“Ready for lunch?” Finn grinned

“Always.”

The two made their way across the street and into the first burger restaurant they came across. It was a cute little eatery, decorated to the theme of the sea. They sat at a table next to the front window. Rey stared out at the beach as their burgers were prepared.

She had just taken the first bite of her burger when her eyes latched onto a familiar, dark-haired muscular figure walking by. 

Her stranger. 

“KyloxRen.”

She choked on her burger.

Finn jumped into action, pounding his palm against her back. “Rey, are you okay?”

She gasped as the burger dislodged itself from her esophagus. “Yeah, thanks,” she croaked.

“What happened?”

She considered telling him about her stranger but decided against it, fearing what he would think if she did. At the same time, she didn’t want to make up a lie. She settled for a half-truth.

“I thought I saw someone I know.”


	5. Oregon

Rey never meant to stay at home for so long. It had been a few months since she had talked to Maz about sticking around to help her out. After that conversation, she knew in her heart that she wanted to continue traveling. Tomorrow.

But tomorrow turned into next week, and next week turned into next month. Dismissing her brief visit to Canda, this was her longest continuous stay at home since she graduated high school.

Eventually, her birthday rolled around, and Finn wanted to take her out to a concert at a local bar to celebrate.

From what she could make out, the music sounded good but ultimately forgettable.

Finn left her alone for a few minutes to go get more drinks. She stood alone near the stage, nodding her head to the music when she saw him again.

Her familiar stranger.

He stood not far from her, completely engrossed with the band.

She shuffled through sweaty dancing bodies, making her way towards him. She didn’t know what she was going to say when she eventually confronted him.

_Hey, I’m not sure if you remember me, but we keep running into each other and it’s getting weird. Also, I found your YouTube channel, and what kind of name is Kylo Ren?_

She was only a couple of feet away when he noticed her.

Rey noted the way his lips curled into a smile. 

So he did remember her.

And how had she never noticed how nice his lips were?

“Hello again,” his voice barely carried over the music.

She opened her mouth to respond but stopped when Finn called out her name.

She turned around to see her brother, drinks in hand, making his way towards her. Rey glanced back at her stranger, only to find that the crowd had swept him away from her.

She spent the rest of the concert keeping an eye out for him, but she never saw him again.

That night as she lay curled up in bed, she visited his YouTube page, hoping he had his social media accounts listed there. Her plans to DM him vanished when she found that he did not have any ties to social media.

She could always post a comment on one of his videos, but she knew he wouldn’t see it. Besides, he never replied to any comments.

She cursed the elusive man.


	6. Naples, Italy

His arm tightened around her waist as he pulled her closer to him. She giggled. As she moved closer to him, she accidentally knocked over her empty soda can onto the remains of their picnic spread.

The two sat on an old quilt back in Central Park-- _although_ , she didn’t remember traveling back to New York. Also, the park they sat in didn’t _look_ like Central Park. At least, not the parts she saw...

She dismissed the thought in favor of nuzzling into his side. The warm summer sun surrounded them like a blanket. Tree leaves rustled overhead. Light notes from street performers wafted through the air. 

Everything was perfect.

Kylo-- _that was his name, right?_ \--pressed a kiss on her temple and pulled away from her. A devilish grin spread across his face.

“What was that for?” she hummed. She reached up to thread her fingers through his long, pitch black hair but hesitated.

Something felt...off.

She lowered her arm, resting it on his shoulder instead.

“Something wrong?” 

Rey started to shrug it off when something warm and wet fell on her outstretched wrist. She glanced down, expecting to see a raindrop, but, no, there wasn’t a single cloud in the sky. Instead of water, something beige and oily ran down her arm. 

Confusion knit in her brow, she looked up to Kylo. She screamed.

The man--the thing in front of her tilted its head. 

Skin rolled down its face like wax on a lit candlestick.

“Rey?” flecks of it splattered on her face.

She tried to shove the creature away from her, but its arms gripped her tighter.

“Where do you think you’re going?” he growled.

Her movements became sluggish. She still screaming voice sounded far-off. She tried to escape but made no progress. She was helpless.

She hoped one of the passing park-goers would see her plight and rush to help, but no one came. No one could save her.

The creature’s melted skin crept up her arms and into her mouth. She gagged and fought for air.

There was no escape.

No hope.

Nothing.

Rey gasped and shot up. She looked around the dark room in an attempt to gather her bearings. Bed sheets tangled around her waist. She threw them off, finally able to free herself. She waited for her heartbeat to return to its regular pattern.

She reexamined the dream, wondering what it all meant. Despite however much distance she put between her and the man she had met in Maine nearly a year ago, she couldn’t seem to shake him. Now, he was invading her dreams. Something in her didn’t mind this new development. Aside from the end, she enjoyed it, though part of her didn’t want to admit it. After all, he was still a stranger. Sort of.

When her racing heart settled down, she checked the time on her phone.

Her shoulders sagged upon realizing that she could not return to sleep’s tender embrace.

She rolled out of the guest bed and trudged to the bathroom to get ready for the day.

~~~

Her lilac haired hostess sat at the breakfast bar in her brightly lit kitchen, coffee cup in hand.

“Catching worms too, darling?” Amilyn Holdo smiled up at her.

“Excuse me?” 

“You’re up early.”

“Oh, yeah. Woke up from a dream.” Leia had told Rey that her old friend had a _unique_ way with words. 

“Dreams have a way of revealing our deepest desires.”

Rey plucked an apple from the spikey golden fruit bowl at the center of the table and took a large bite. She doubted the truth to Amilyn’s words. Her dreams tended to be utter nonsense influenced by whatever she had observed the previous day. Her deepest desire was _not_ to be consumed by some sort of deteriorating monster.

But the _other_ part…

“You are welcome to help yourself to the pantry. Leia mentioned you had a hearty appetite. You’ll need enough fuel for all that I have planned for us.”

Rey swallowed the bite of her apple. “Thanks again for letting me stay here.”

Her hostess waved it off. “Any friend of Leia’s is a friend of mine. Now get dressed, we have a long day ahead of us.”

~~~

Rey’s sandals slapped against the dirt path. Pebbles and bits of gravel got caught underneath her feet, causing her to stop for a moment to dig them out. As she caught up to Holdo, she swore that from then on out, she would always wear tennis shoes when traveling no matter how pleasant the weather felt.

As they neared the top of Mount Vesuvius, her stomach growled. With a start, she realized she had not eaten anything since lunch nearly six hours before. She hoped their trip back down the legendary volcano would be much shorter or else her host might have to drag her to the bottom. 

“We’re almost there,” Holdo called out, breaking Rey from her daydreams of pizza, gelato and all of the carb-heavy foods she could call to mind.

She completely forgot her growling stomach when they reached the top of the volcano. She leaned against one of the safety rails and stared out on the city. From a distance, the buildings looked like little dots of beige lining the coast. 

Rey had never really done well in large cities, having spent most of her life in a desert town with barely enough people to deserve its township. Walking around Naples earlier with Holdo had been enough to overwhelm her. Although from here, staring out at the crowded city, a sense of peace washed over her.

At some point along their hike, the sun had begun to sink towards the horizon. The city below lit up like lightning bugs. Crickets warmed their legs up for their nightly ballads. The cotton candy sky of purplish-blue hues and pink clouds that had hung over them began to dissolve like sugar in one’s mouth. 

Okay, maybe she had not completely forgotten her hunger.

In awe of the beauty of it all, she pulled out her phone and took a few pictures to post to her blog. 

Eventually, they made their descent back down to the rest of the world and ended up in a quaint eatery. As Holdo regaled tales of Leia’s and her many adventures, Rey scribbled down notes in her journal about their hike as to not leave out any detail for her upcoming blog post.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so this did not turn out the way I had hoped. I was wanting it to be a much longer chapter and to have it be slightly reminiscent of how I felt when reading "Love and Gelato" by Jenna Evans Welch (a super cute book, you should check it out if you haven't yet). Instead, here we are with a chapter that I had to rush to get out on time because this week was super crazy. I should probably state that I am using this fic to practice writing for deadlines.
> 
> Anyways, I do hope you have enjoyed this fanfic so far. Thank you for reading it, and I promise I have some good stuff planned for the upcoming chapters (let's just hope that I can get them written on time!).


	7. California

Rey had planned on spending the next six months in Europe, living on a fraction of the inheritance she had received from some great-grandfather she had never heard of--though if it had been up to her, she would have traded all of the money for a chance to have known Grandfather Kenobi. 

She stood in the middle of the Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris with Rose when she received the call from Maz. The two canceled their Airbnb and hopped on the first plane back to the States.

She squirmed in the church pew, its old upholstery itchy against her legs. The whole day had gone by in a blur of ultimately forgettable faces sharing their condolences. None of it had felt real until she entered the chapel auditorium and saw her laying in her elegant coffin, set up at the front of the room.

After Maz, Leia Organa had been the mother Rey had never had. She had freed her from the despicable Plutt all of those years ago and stuck around after that, occasionally checking in and giving her much needed advice. She did not know where she would be had she never met Leia.

She barely focused on what the preacher said. Her mind was still trying to wrap itself around the fact that she would never get to talk to Leia again. To hear any more of her snarky remarks. To see her give the bird to those who got in her way.

She did not even recognize the man the preacher invited up to speak until he opened his mouth.

“My mom is-- _was_ a remarkable woman. She dedicated her life to giving people hope. She never backed down from a challenge and never shied away from a fight. Above all, she loved with her whole heart. Which explains how she put up with my dad.” The audience responded with a light chuckle. 

“We were never as close as we should have been. Towards the end, we tried to pick up the pieces of our broken relationship. My mom always finished what she started. I only wish she had been given the time for us to finish rebuild our relationship.” His voice hitched.

A hand rested on her shoulder. She looked to the pew behind her to see a teary-eyed Holdo.

“Here, love,” Holdo whispered, handing her a tissue. The two exchanged strained smiles. The older woman rubbed Rey’s shoulder, then sat back in her seat.

After the service ended, Rey talked herself up to approach him--Ben Solo, she had learned--and tell him how beautiful and moving his speech was.

However, before she could get far, Finn and Poe ushered her out of the chapel and to the graveside.

She didn’t see him again.

~~~

The cool night air hit her reddened face as she swung open the door to the bar’s patio. Poe had been telling the group about a time when he was working at the Skywalker Law Firm, and Leia had slapped him in front of all of the other interns. 

The bar was too crowded and stuffy right now.

All she wanted was to be alone for a few moments. Unfortunately, the patio was not as empty as she had hoped.

A man slumped over a table in the shadows of the overhanging branches of a sycamore.

She ignored him, electing to sit at a table on the opposite side of the cramped patio. She gazed up at the stars and the moon glimmering overhead, unaffected by human life. Quiet and beautiful. Rey had never given much thought to an afterlife, but she supposed that if heaven were real, Leia would be amongst the twinkling stars, looking down on her right now.

With dreamy eyes, she continued to stare into the neverending night sky. Time slipped away from her. It was just her and the heavens above. 

She startled when the shadow man spoke.

“Are you following me?”

Her eyes widened. She whipped her head in his direction, strands of hair coming dislodged from her three-bun updo at the sudden movement. Her heart fluttered in her chest as his strong features became clear to her. Her stranger, Ky--no, Ben, stared back at her, a slight smirk playing against his full lips.

“You remember me?” She asked, her voice ladened with disbelief.

“You’re British?”

“Only in diction. You’re Leia’s son?”

He strode over to her table. She pushed out a chair for him to sit in. “You knew her?”

“Yeah, she...she changed my life.” Rey cleared her voice. “She never mentioned she had a son.”

“Doesn’t surprise me.” He pulled out a pack of cigarettes and offered her one. When she declined, he pulled out one and lit it.

“My mom always hated seeing me with these. Said they messed up her life, and she didn’t want to see them mess up mine.” Ben flicked the ash off the end of his cigarette. “Well, looks like she can’t see me now.”

“That doesn’t mean it still won’t ruin your life.”

“You must be fun at parties,” he quipped but seemed reluctant to bring the cigarette back to his lips. 

She gestured to the otherwise uninhabited courtyard with her orange soda can up. “Clearly I am the life of the party. I’m Rey, by the way.”

“I know. Ben.” He offered his hand for her to shake.

“I know.” 

When their hand’s made contact, she felt the same shock as she had in that coffee shop over a year ago. Glancing at his deep, searching eyes and slightly parted lips was enough to confirm that he had felt it too.

A shout and the breaking of glass sounded over the dull roar of inebriated patrons from inside. The two tore their gaze away from each other and watched the door, expecting people to swarm out. When nothing other than the initial disturbance came, they looked back at each other.

“Do you know how many times I saw you and avoided you?” Ben asked, snuffing out his cigarette. 

“Why did you do that?”

“I don’t know. I was afraid I guess.”

“Afraid of what?”

“You rejecting me. You seeing me and not recognizing me.”

“How could I not?” 

He ducked his head. Perhaps she had come on too strong. She did not really know how to talk to him. And would it be weird if she told him she found his YouTube channel?

Before she could try to continue their conversation, her friends staggered out of the bar. Finn had his arm around a giggly Rose, supporting her as they made their way to the car. Poe caught Rey’s gaze.

“There she is!” He stumbled over to their table. “Hey Benny boy, you know Peanut?”

“Peanut?”

“Oh, it’s a nickname my brother gave me,” she nodded to Finn, who was currently entertaining Rose as she tried to get him to dance with her. “You know Poe?”

“Me and Benny boy go waaayy back. Now, C'mon, we’re ready to go.” 

Rey watched Poe leave. She looked back at Ben, reluctant to leave him after they had finally met. She could call them an Uber or ask Finn to drive them back to their hotel...

“Get it, girl!” Rose hiccuped.

“ _Rose!_ ” Finn scolded his girlfriend.

“What?”

“Ya know what, Rey-Rey, you stay with Benny boy, I can drive.” Poe fumbled with his keys, letting loose an expletive when they clattered to the pavement.

She sighed. “I’d better go save Finn. Those two are quite the handful when drunk.”

“I guess we’ll run into each other again.”

Rey hesitated. Her gut told her that they would meet again, but just to be safe she pulled out an old receipt and scribbled her phone number on it. “Here, when you get a chance, call me.”

He gingerly took the scrap of paper from her and offered her a smile before she rushed off to help her friends.


	8. Epilogue

The noise of the crowded airport hit them as they exited the plane.

"So, where to next?" Rey looked up at him.

The two lugged their carry-ons toward the baggage claim.

He caught her free hand and gave it a squeeze. "Anywhere as long as I'm with you, Mrs. Solo."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading this mess of a fanfic. I wanted it to be so much longer, but due to time and dissatisfaction, I was unable to make it so.
> 
> Also, I want to apologize for not posting last week. Life has just been really crazy at the moment, and I did not particularly care for the original version of this epilogue.
> 
> Anyways, thank you again for reading.


End file.
